Kukla's Korner Hockey

When Canucks trainer Jamie Hendricks took Roberto Luongo’s place in net for Tuesday’s practice, the sound you heard were alarm bells.

It’s not so much Roberto Luongo’s injury as it is the timing of it.

Luongo was hurt in Sunday’s game against the Islanders. By Tuesday, hysteria about it being “open season on goalies” had saturated the NHL.

Luongo was presumably hurt when he stretched across his crease to make a save on a Mark Streit shot which dented his cage. He won’t play tonight, but it’s “nothing serious,” according to head coach Alain Vigneault.

Depending on who is speculating, Luongo either suffered concussionlike symptoms or damaged cartilage in his hip-oblique area.